Winds travelling 3,000 miles per SECOND found near supermassive black hole - and they're causing galaxies to dim and fade

Winds travelling 3,000 miles per SECOND found near supermassive black hole - and they're causing galaxies to dim and fade Researchers have found evidence for how rapid winds form in galaxies Team was led by the Netherlands Institute for Space Research in Utrecht Used observational data from Nasa and Esa telescopes, including Hubble They found distant galaxy NGC 5548 had streams of gas around its core Streams originate in superheated region around the core called a quasar They shield the supermassive black hole and allow fast winds to form Although predicted previously, these were five times faster than thought Gales of gases whipping through the universe are dimming galaxies, researchers have discovered. The researchers detected a clumpy gas stream originating in a superheated region called a quasar flowed outwards and enabled fast winds to form Wind storms of up to 620 miles per second are known in galaxies, but the new study found they can blow up to 3,100 miles per second. The gas filament blocked 90 per cent of the X-rays emitted from the black hole The newly discovered stream of gas in the galaxy NGC 5548 - the first of its kind in one of the best-studied active galaxies - provides this protection, and it appears that the shielding has been going on for at least three years. ‘I was delighted when our consortium agreed to focus the campaign on NGC 5548, as I first became interested in this active galaxy almost three decades ago, observing it with the X-ray instruments operating in space at the time.’ Supermassive black holes in the nuclei of active galaxies, such as NGC 5548, are known to expel large amounts of matter through powerful winds of ionised gas.